16/11/2018 Supersuckers @ Oslo

Tonight finds me off to Oslo to see a band. "Wow - that sounds a bit far" you say? Not really - it's a new venue in Hackney - no planes required to get there - just a couple of trains. In fact the venue is in the old Hackney Central station building. This means the station, venue, and nearest Wetherspoons are all very close by - which is handy. The venue itself is actually in a very attractive (from the outside) old building. Suspecting that the oddly named Oslo will feature an overpriced and not to my taste selection of beers I head for the nearby Baxters Court after getting off the train - which turns out to be a good move as I manage to time my arrival at the venue just before the band hit the stage, although actually getting in and past security seems to take an unnecessarily long time considering I already have a ticket - this place needs to get it's shit together. Also, when I went for a piss later the building/door layout meant anyone on the corridor outside had view of people actually pissing in the toilet when the door was open - well fucking dodgy! How can this be allowed to happen in 2019?

Once I get in I find the band playing in a surprisingly small upstairs room - not tiny, but smaller than The Garage or other London venues I have seen them in in the past.. The room is pretty full, but not packed so maybe it didn't sell out? Last time I saw the band was at the much larger Islington Academy. Bar issues aside I think I prefer this place though - it's more intimate and less corporate.

It's a few years since I've seen Supersuckers - who apparently think the Rolling Stones don't hold the copyright to the title 'The Greatest rock 'n' roll Band in The World'. Cross country music with punk, rock & roll, and mix in Motörhead, The Ramones, and ACD/DC then you might get some idea of what Supersuckers are like - country music was never this fast and LOUD!

Supersuckers used to be one of my favourite live bands, but like Backyard Babies and Danko Jones I thought they lost their edge a few years ago. Something else has changed with the band that I didn't know about - they have now slimmed down to a three piece. Guitarists Dan 'Thunder' Bolton and Rontrose Heathman have both gone since I last saw the band, with 'new' guy 'Metal' Marty Chandler now the sole 6 stringer. He is pretty good though! There has been a bit of a 'revolving door' for Supersuckers drummers for years and Chris Von Streicher is now occupying the drum stool - he's pretty good too. Frontman/bassist Eddie Spaghetti is now the only original member, and he has been out of action for a while due to throat cancer - bad news at the best of times, but even worse if you are a singer. His voice doesn't sound like it used to, but to be honest he was always more of a shouter and screamer than a singer - 'hollerin' as he describes it. Eddie is an excellent frontman all the same, and you can definitely detect Lemmy as an influence - not so surprising as this band have always been fans of Motörhead, and Lemmy liked Supersuckers too.

I'm missed this band on their last one or two visits to the UK, but I think one of them was touring to promote one of their new 'country' albums so I wasn't so bothered. Now they are back as a full-on rock 'n' roll band though, and when I found out they were going to play their 'Evil Powers Of Rock 'N' Roll' album in full I knew I had to get a ticket! I love that album - it is such a terrific collection of really great songs! As advertised, they duly played the whole album, and I loved every minute. Just hearing that alone I would have gone home happy, but there was more...

I have to say that this certainly wasn't the best lineup of the band I've seen, but even in their slimmed down form Supersuckers are still a great rock 'n' roll band. The rest of the setlist spanned the band's 30 year career - including the crowd pleaser 'Pretty Fucked Up'.  To be honest I found the lead song 'The History Of Rock 'N' Roll' from the new album 'Suck It' rather disappointing, but after hearing 'The Evil Powers Of Rock 'N' Roll' album in full almost anything would be an anti-climax.  However, the band redeemed themselves by finishing their set with the brilliant 'Born With A Tail' from their excellent 'Sacrilicious' record - I reckon that is still their best song and sums their whole attitude up perfectly. That's enough to send me home happy!